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Meet Our Donors

On behalf of Fox Chase Cancer Center, we would like to thank all of our current donors for their generosity and support. Here are some of their stories.

Janet Kovacs

As a teacher, Janet Kovacs always taught her students to look for new ideas and creative solutions. Not surprisingly, she did just that in planning a gift to Fox Chase Cancer Center.

In 2001, Janet retired after 38 years as an elementary school teacher. She and her husband John planned to split their time between their home in Pennsylvania and their condo in Florida. Their plans were abruptly halted when John was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer that same year. With Janet by his side, John chose to participate in a clinical trial.

“We developed such a rapport with the people at Fox Chase….the atmosphere was amazing,” Janet recalls. After John’s death in 2002, Janet knew she wanted to do something meaningful, but it seemed out-of-reach. Coincidentally, friends who were helping her arrange the sale of the Florida condo, gave Janet the solution.

The condo was transferred into a charitable remainder trust and subsequently sold. Janet received income from the trust, and the principal will support research programs at Fox Chase after her death. The trust enabled Janet to convert the property into an income-producing trust while it generated income and capital gain tax savings.

“I could have invested the funds in many ways,” says Janet. “But with the charitable remainder trust, I know the money will have an impact.”

Charles and Barbara Kahn – A tradition of giving

“This giving philosophy goes back to my parents,” says Charles Kahn, “when, in memory of my father, my mother funded a physician learning center in the library at Fox Chase.”

Charles and Barbara Kahn have long been friends of Fox Chase Cancer Center since they volunteered on the Fox Chase Board of Advocates in the 1980s. The Kahns often recognize their friends with honor and memorial gifts to Fox Chase Cancer Center in one case, funding a nursing education room in the hospital in memory of a close friend treated at Fox Chase.

“A number of years ago I donated a life insurance policy to Fox Chase Cancer Center. Fox Chase is the beneficiary,” says Kahn, “holds the policy, and makes the payments. Each year I reimburse Fox Chase for the premium and this becomes our annual contribution. I recognized then the importance and quality of the good work being done there…. While my wife, Barbara, and I continue to support Fox Chase, we felt the need to have that support continue after we are gone. I am happy knowing this will happen.”